Safety first: Don’t blame the Kiwis for taking flight

However, the militancy displayed in Karachi — hours before the second Test was to start — was a little too much and too close for human safety. A terrorist attack by Islamic fundamentalists, condemned by government circles, saw the Kiwis pack for home along with match referee Mike Procter and umpire Rudi Koertzen along with West Indian Steve Bucknor.

Ironically, it was the threat of an extension of terrorism and a possible attack which led last September and October to New Zealand and the West Indies cancelling their planned tour to Pakistan. This was after September 11; everyone had the right to feel a touch jittery. The West Indies also cancelled their tour as did Sri Lanka the planned replacement. It was not a case of paranoia as there was in the 1996 World Cup, when the LTTE decided to draw attention to their cause. The serenity surrounding the looming World Cup on the South Asian sub-continent exploded when 80 died and thousands were injured as five LTTE suicide bombers drove a truck, packed with explosives, into the handsome seven-storey structure known as the Central Bank. It was an incendiary statement of defiance by the LTTE in Colombo’s financial heartland. Not only did it put the games Sri Lanka were scheduled to play in the capital at risk, it also cast doubt surrounding the ability of Sri Lankan security involving visiting teams.

Australia and Sri Lanka were to resume an embittered rivalry, fired in the ovens of acrimony created during Sri Lanka’s tour Down Under only weeks earlier, in one of the tournament’s opening games barely 18 days after the Tigers attack in Colombo. Before the explosion spread nasty splinters of shrapnel embedding doubt and confusion in the thoughts of many, there had been a growing suspicion the Aussies would somehow renege on their game at the Sinhalese Sports Club on February 17.

The West Indies, too, were edgy about playing their game against Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium nine days after the Australian match and preferred to default, giving Arjuna Ranatunga’s side two log points than subject the players to the vagaries of another Tamil attack. They too remained in India.

The Australians found it prudent to concede the points than invite further trouble. Playing on the sub-continent is hard enough for some as it is, without exposing players to further endemic and polemic side issues.

In the case of the Kiwis this week, heading for home and safety is the more important option; apart from throwing the International Cricket Council Test championship plans into disarray it was, not surpassingly, supported by the two boards. When life and limb are in danger such precaution is necessary. This is an enemy acting cowardly not only against the civilian population but also those not of the Islamic faith. The desire for the Kiwis to head home was understandable and drew sympathy from the ICC.

ICC chairman Malcolm Speed, while appreciating publicly the PCB’s efforts to provide a ‘‘high level of security’’ during the tour, said it would be ‘‘virtually impossible to predict and control extraneous events’’. Which is one way of looking at it. The upshot, however, is that it creates doubt about Australia’s tour later in the year and after the cancelled tour of Zimbabwe, the Aussies will want a venue where there is a little more stability. There are no guarantees in this and whether a second tour is cancelled is something the Australians may reconsider. It does create a bigger security problem in the region. Sri Lanka are to host the ICC Champions Trophy in September and whether this goes ahead without a problem depends on what plans the terrorists have in mind.

Those in charge of Pakistan cannot tolerate fundamentalists deliberately attacking Western workers or tourists because of bigoted religious reasoning. It smacks of the white supremacists in South Africa and those southern states where the Klu Klux Klan operated in the United States. If Pakistan cannot control terrorism Pakistan should realise that they now need to play their home games at a neutral venue and outside the country.

It is a lesson that Pakistan and the Asian Cricket Council need to examine seriously. The game has had enough problems the last two years without further disruption.